Unlimited Invasive Species...

[Woolly Bugger]

Unlikely heroes: Dog duo protecting NC wineries and orchards against invasive Spotted Lanternflies

North Carolina's wineries and orchards have two unlikely heroes: Goose and Kita, a pair of black Labrador Retrievers trained to sniff out Spotted Lanternflies – an invasive insect that could devastate North Carolina's wine industry and nurseries.


https://wr.al/1QKMb

[Woolly Bugger]

Pest that New Yorkers were told to kill on sight found in California for first time
Invasive spotted lanternfly eggs were headed for the Bay Area



Eggs of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect so destructive that New Yorkers were instructed to kill any on sight, were found for the first time in California on a 30-foot-tall metal art installation headed to the Bay Area.

The lanternfly egg masses were found at the Truckee Border Protection Station in late March, the California Association of Winegrape Growers announced on Monday. According to CAWG, station staff found 11 "viable egg masses" on a large metal art sculpture that was en route to Sonoma County from New York.
Upon finding the eggs, staff rejected the shipment and sent it to Nevada, where officials discovered 30 more egg masses on other parts of the sculpture. The installation was then power washed with detergent and sent to Sonoma County under a warning hold notice. Sonoma County staff found an additional three egg masses during another inspection in which cranes were used to take the sculpture apart. The inspection was concluded after staff were sure no egg masses were left on the sculpture, according to CAWG.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-first-time-spotted-lanternfly-eggs-19511059.php

[Onslow]

Mack and Jeff did their annual float trip from RR to Weldon yesterday.  Years ago, it would have been a mixed bag of stripers and largemouth.  Some of the LMB would be 4 pounds or better. 8 years ago, Jeff caught his first Bama bass in the river. Today, Mach caught 35 fish, 30 of which were Alabama bass.  Jeff caught 27, 18 were Alabama bass. The do grow larger than Kentucky spots, but the river already has a small fish problem.

[Woolly Bugger]

Tiny zebra mussels forced Colorado to completely drain a lake. Now, it's time to refill it.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife continues to closely monitor Highline Lake, northwest of Grand Junction, for the invasive species

olorado Parks and Wildlife officials started refilling Highline Lake on Monday after a long battle with a tiny invader — the zebra mussel — forced the agency to drain it completely in November.

Colorado has worked for years to keep these rapidly reproducing mussels from settling into the state. But in 2022, Highline Lake, northwest of Grand Junction, became the first body of water in Colorado to be classified as infested after state staff found adult mussels. Then in 2024, zebra mussel larvae were found along the Colorado River in Colorado.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff said people need to follow inspection rules to prevent further spread, especially as this summer's boating season begins to ramp up.

"Eradicating an invasive species once it is established can be difficult, which is why we focus so heavily on preventing their introduction," Maddie Baker, CPW invasive species specialist, said in a news release Tuesday.

A single female zebra mussel can produce 1 million larvae in a year. If left unchecked, adult zebra mussels will lock onto every inch of docks, boat motors, dam intake pipes, buoys and shoreline rocks — potentially causing millions of dollars in damage and clogging up vital water delivery systems for farmers, ranchers and other water users.

https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/04/highline-lake-colorado-refill-zebra-mussel/

[Woolly Bugger]

Floods, channels, a giant metal curtain: Feds target invasive fish in the Colorado River

An invasion of smallmouth bass from the Great Lakes region is spreading to new areas of the Colorado River in Arizona.

The bass have already thwarted efforts to save threatened native fish in the upper river basin, and wildlife officials are fighting to keep the same from happening below Lake Powell, even if it requires cranes, excavators and maybe one day, a giant metal curtain.

Federal officials say they took a major step in fighting the bass invasion below the Glen Canyon Dam in June. The National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation have cleared out a warm backwater in the river where bass and other invasive species used to spawn, eliminating a critical resource for the predatory fish that could wipe out one of the last holdouts for some of the Colorado River's threatened and endangered fish.


https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2025/06/30/breeding-ground-invasive-smallmouth-bass-colorado-river-targeted/84393165007/